Castillo Deal To Trabzonspor Hits Trouble

What was once thought of as a near formality has turned into anything but, with Fabian Castillo’s transfer to Turkish club Trabzonspor hitting several snags along the way, with the deal still unconfirmed by either Trabzonspor or FC Dallas.

Following a report by Goal.com’s Ives Galarcep on July 22nd that claimed a deal was “in the finishing touches” between Dallas and the Turkish club, there has been surprisingly few official developments in the transaction for the 24 year-old Colombian forward.

Soon afterward, it was revealed that the deal for Castillo was to be completed in two parts, with Trabzonspor providing approximately $2 million up front before paying another $2 million in January to FC Dallas to finalize the transfer. That initial payment by the Turkish club was to work as a loan of sorts, securing Castillo’s services for only six months according to Sports Illustrated’s Brian Straus, although both clubs were planning for the move to be a permanent one.

It was an important note in the report by Straus though that should Trabzonspor fail to pay the $2 million that was to be due in January, Castillo’s MLS rights would remain with FC Dallas.

However, a lack of progress in recent days between Trabzonspor and FC Dallas suggests that the first part of the transfer agreement may not come to fruition after all.

Despite visual evidence of Castillo on the ground in Turkey, being both paraded around by Trabzonspor fans and performing his medical for the club, no official news updates have come regarding the transfer. A fact noted by Straus, who revealed that negotiations were still underway between Trabzonspor, FC Dallas and MLS.

The unique way that the transfer was structured, with Trabzonspor needing to make two separate payments six months apart, indicates that money was an issue for the Turkish club, an issue big enough to possibly lose Castillo over just half a year after acquiring him. FC Dallas were reported to be interested in selling Castillo for no less than $4 million, and Trabzonspor, perhaps short on funds at the moment, probably thought it best to wait until their Turkish Super Lig season was half-completed before feeling comfortable enough to pay the full expenses.

The ability of Trabzonspor to not only pay the $2 million in January, but suddenly the $2 million up front has now been called into question, perhaps preventing the deal from even getting off the ground.

An alternative, and a more scandalous option to be sure, would be the line of thinking that Trabzonspor were perhaps not prepared to fund the deal at the moment, with their hand suddenly forced by the arrival of Castillo in Turkey on his own time, looking to make a deal happen.

As Straus said himself, Castillo was a player seeking a transfer, seeking a way out of Frisco. It isn’t out of the question to think that Castillo, a young player looking to move to what some may deem a better opportunity in Europe, would hastily jet off to Turkey to try and force a deal to be completed.

So in summary, all signs point to Castillo leaving FC Dallas (on his own) for Turkey and Trabzonspor, despite neither side completing the transfer agreement prior to his arrival in the European nation. And if this is true regarding how things went down, it certainly puts just about every entity involved in this situation in a hell of a predicament.

Trabzonspor could very well not be able to afford Castillo on a permanent basis, or they may not even be able to front the $2 million initial cost for Castillo, placing them in the odd position of completing all the required steps to sign Castillo, except for the matter of payment.

FC Dallas could be forced into accepting less than they wanted for Castillo if Trabzonspor can’t afford their asking price, meaning that Dallas would part with Castillo for significantly less than he is worth while also suffering substantial embarrassment in the process.

And should the deal fall through completely, Castillo may be forced to return to FC Dallas after voluntarily and perhaps forcefully leaving the club before their biggest regular season match in 2016, forced to face the teammates, fans and coaching staff he was so eager to leave just one week ago.

As if this story needed another late twist, Turkish sports website Mynet Spor reported late Friday that a deal had finally been reached between Trabzonspor and Dallas for Castillo’s services. The report includes a picture of Castillo with Trabzonspor officials, wearing the club’s jersey, and mentions that the delay was due to a discrepancy in price between the two clubs.

$3,200,000 was noted as the preferred cost of Castillo from the Trabzonspor hierarchy, while Dallas sought $4,500,000 for Castillo. No official news has been released by either club though, as this twisting transfer saga stretches onward.